If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So, when we ran our eye over China State Construction International Holdings' (HKG:3311) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for China State Construction International Holdings, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.10 = HK$15b ÷ (HK$266b - HK$119b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Therefore, China State Construction International Holdings has an ROCE of 10%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 5.9% generated by the Construction industry.

Check out our latest analysis for China State Construction International Holdings

In the above chart we have measured China State Construction International Holdings' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for China State Construction International Holdings .

What Can We Tell From China State Construction International Holdings' ROCE Trend?

The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has employed 70% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 10%. Since 10% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

On a separate but related note, it's important to know that China State Construction International Holdings has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 45%, which we'd consider pretty high. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

The Bottom Line On China State Construction International Holdings' ROCE

To sum it up, China State Construction International Holdings has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. And long term investors would be thrilled with the 132% return they've received over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

China State Construction International Holdings does have some risks, we noticed 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.